I don’t know for how long I was drugged. But I was pissed. Really, really pissed.

After the drug passed I tried the most reasonable routine one would follow on this situation. Rain magic upon their heads, of course.

Except for a tiny little detail…

I wasn’t able to control the mana around me at all.

Yeah, scary… especially for a mage. Like me.

I still could activate my Mana Sight, so I could still control my pure mana, and I could saw all the mana that surrounded the place. But no matter how much I tried, I couldn’t make it move.

If this didn’t make me despair, the next thing I discovered would.

The Elemental Shards I had imbued on me were missing. They were my last resource on attempting an escape, since controlling them would be closer to controlling my own mana than controlling the outside. But without them, magic was out.

The next action would obviously be suicide. Okay, not that obvious but for someone like me, who can respawn, it was obvious.

Next step: find a weapon to kill myself. Still, I hope I found some other way to escape. Suicide would be kind of difficult. And I really didn’t want to die, again.

The others, who were enjoying this nice trip with me, were asleep. Not that they had much more to do, as they were locked in cages like me. But the lack of chains was somewhat unnerving. I always imagined that slaves would have meters and meters of chain holding them, but there were none to be seen. And I could only conclude that they were restraining us with something else, beside the cages. Or they trusted we wouldn’t try to escape.

I think the first option was more likely.

And now, to search for the weapon.

Cages, five people, our clothes, some cloths, and ropes. That was everything I could take. No sign of metal, except for the bars. And if I could break them, I wouldn’t be considering suicide.

Guess there won’t be an easy way, or as easy as killing myself would go. This left me with strangling myself. If I didn’t have poison resistance, I could try to poison me…

Looking down at my hands a sudden urge to punch myself arise.

My claws! Nice, pointy and sharp! I looked at the claws ad wondered what would be the most painless way to die.

…

Poor wolf, it must have been to brutal to kill him that way.

Well, now or never I guess.

I closed my eyes and held my neck with my claws. This way it would be somewhat fast, I think.

After a minute of hesitation, I closed my hand.

…

And nothing happened.

I opened my eyes.

My hand was still in my neck, ready to slash it. But a strange light was stopping me. Following it with my eyes, it was being emitted by my Status Ring. And the ring had a strange mark on it, that I definitely hadn’t seen before.

Curious, I Analyzed! It

Ring Status Plate (Modified)OwnerGypCurrent StatusMark of the Slave**other functions (including your Inventory and Titles) are disabled due to this status*the Master can decree absolut orders

Present OrdersDon’t kill yourself

Don’t hurt yourself

Don’t use magic

Don’t leave the Master surroundings (30 meters)

Don’t speak

What. The. Actual. Fuck!

Noticing I didn’t said anything yet I tried to talk. No words came from my mouth.

What?! I couldn’t even fucking talk?! And what about my weapon!? And my clothes?! I can’t run around on the shirt the nurses gave me!

…

Calm down Gyp. Think what you know about slavery on this world.

First thing, it wasn’t allowed on every kingdom. Only Hagavia and Dragonspire had laws that permitted the purchasing of slaves. But from distance, it was more probably we were going to Hagavia, since Dragonspire was on the other side of the continent.

At least I think I know where I was going.

Now, think on how to remove the slave status.

I tried to remove the ring. It didn’t work.

It was stuck! For some reason it was stuck! Maybe it was glued by magic. But at least this meant that the ring was causing the slave condition. If I only could remove it…

But the orders really worked wonders. And answered my questions of what was happening with the others. That’s why everyone was only caged. All means to escape were knocked down by the orders. So effective it was scary.

So, plan A and plan B were down. Damm, it’s time for plan C

If I can’t kill myself, let others kill me! Yay!

Worst plan ever, but the one with greater chance to succeed.

But, there was no one around. I guess I will have to wait a little till I can escape.

With nothing more to do, I waited.

Three hours. Three hours without doing anything.

If I could kill myself I would had already done, just to free me of this boredom. Instead, I planned the worst ways possible to kill someone. These guys won’t leave unharmed from here.

While I was boiling my future revenge, the others gradually woke up. But with the order, I won’t be able to sate my boredom.

But it seems they were conditioned to wake up around this hour. When the last was truly awakened, one of the merchants appeared to give us food. Bread and cheese. A cup of water.

…

Are they trying to kill us? Those monsters!

The guy didn’t even spare us a second look. He was treating us like animals!

After a very unsatisfying meal, the wait continued. So I decided to counter the seconds.

9543 seconds after, the carts have stopped.

They were unloading the merchandise. The merchandise being us. At least it wasn’t a long journey.

There was another group of merchants, but this one seemed way more terrifying than the current one. It seems the ones who captured me were only kidnappers. The ones who would actually trade us would be the next group.

The leaders of both groups were discussing something. But they were too far away for me to be able to hear them.

They were negotiating, I guess. The one I assumed that was the leader of the kidnappers was an overweight man who gesticulated a lot while talking. The other was calmer, and looked almost bored.

They freed us from our cages and let us wander around. Maybe they wanted us to stretch our legs. A product is a product, even if they are people. And damaged products don’t sell well.

Worst choice, if I may say.

The first thing I searched for was their food stock. Fortunately, everybody was away from the carts, waiting for the negotiation while talking on groups. And none of them seemed to bother with the slaves, so I had time to look for their food.

They must have disarmed all of us before caging us. But they overlooked a small detail on one of us. Natural toxins production. These guys would suffer from kidnapping me.

But still, when I was poisoning their food, I was feeling guilt. They drugged and dragged me away from home, and I still felt guilty for them. I must be way too kind.

But mind you, I didn’t forgive them. I put enough poison to make them scream for some nights asking for death. They would survive, but I would make them suffer enough. I only left the bread and cheese untouched. I wouldn’t like to harm any unfortunate slave. And of course I would memorize their faces. If I ever encountered them when I escaped from this, I would make them suffer again and again.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Some of the thugs were looking for some of the slaves. Me and the little girl.

From what I heard from the various conversations going on were that there was a big amount of slave dealers around here. And this particular one only dealt with non-human races.

Also the group who kidnapped me usually don’t dwell on slave trade, but they sometimes happened to buy some and resell (and kidnapping, apparently)

The child was a cat girl. She was black haired, and had that lovely face that only children have, except for her eyes, which looked eerily dead. Since she was not crying I could only assume she had already been through this.

The guy stared at us. Really, I think he even stopped blinking. Browsing the products.

“Fascinating. An infant demon?” Oi? Who’s the infant? “How did you acquire it?” Stop ignoring the mute demon!

“It was lost near the Red’s territory. Caused some ruckus there. We gladly captured him.” Oi! What’s with that lie? What a bastard!

“It’s rare to see one so young. You were really luck, merchant.” He finally stopped staring at me. “But it’s no good. It doesn’t have any use on labor job. Only the ones who like eccentric things would buy it.” HEY! I heard it! Don’t talk like I’m not here!

“B-but it’s a demon! T-they’re usually expensive!” It seems the merchant plans backfired, huh. Wait… should I really be happy? They’re basically saying I worth less? Self esteem, lowered.

“Indeed.” He seemed to calculate something. “We are going to visit a noble who collect such things. But I will not take risks. 15 dames on the demon.”

Hey! Only 15? Raise it!

Wait… that’s not right…

Don’t sell me! I’m no merchandise!

“B-but we spent more than that! Just to caught him we spent 20 dames!”

What!? Only that!?

…

Time to put a certain nurse on my black list (together with some other ‘merchants’)

“Well… maybe I can raise a little…” he sighed.

He considered the new information. I could almost see the calculation on his head.

“Well, let me see the girl. Maybe I can make a better offer to you.”

And now he stared at the girl. Since she was using long sleeves he was touchier on his analyze. Her arms, legs and even backs. It was unpleasant when he lifted her dress. All the situation screamed ‘Stranger Danger’.

“This is a good one. She already worked before. Where did you get her?”

The merchant seemed a lot calmer now, having his ‘products’ getting praised like this.

“A lower noble was having some trouble with her slaves. She decided to sell some of them, and since she was young and her parents died of disease, she was one of the first to be sold”

This was sadder than I first thought. She probably watched her parents die. It must have been traumatizing. And then she was sold, and had to leave her home. She must have suffered a lot.

…

Goddammit. Now I really want to save at least her. No lone escaping now. It will be the hard way.

“So she already knows the job.” He thought a little more. “How about it? 80 dames on both of them.

The merchant didn’t seem to like it.

“B-but sir! I was expecting at least a king on both of them! Maybe we can raise a little?”

The slave dealer gave one of those sinister smiles.

“My friend, you just said the girl’s parents died if disease. How can I know she doesn’t have it too?” he grinned even more “Remember? No risks taken.”

The merchant was cornered. Remembering some of the history classes I had on the other world, I could see why diseases were so problematic in a medieval setting. Even with magic, I doubt slaves could hire a healer, and I really don’t see a noble caring for they servants that much.

But I didn’t understand why the merchant was so worried. Couldn’t he just sell us for other slave dealers?

Unless…

He doesn’t have a permit to sell slaves?

I could see now why he was trying so hard to sell us. And since this is a group who only deal with non-humans, he was expecting to make a profit. But now he had his hands tied.

And, this did bring a grin to my face.

A really good way to ruin his life. How many years would he spend in jail after he gets caught? And even better, since I wouldn’t kill him I won’t feel sorry!

And the slaver guy wouldn’t waste a second trying to protect him. No risks taken, if I remember well. The merchant would fall down. But only after I escape.

Still, the slaver was cunning. To drive another into the corner like that… he was dangerous.

And my inner monologue really took some time. They had sealed the deal. 80 dames on two slaves. And the girl worth double of me. Self esteem, even lower now.

Now that this was over, they both called their mages.

How did I know they were mages? Well, I acquired the habit of looking at new people with Mana Eyes. Mages tended to have a lot more mana inside them compared to other people. But both of them seemed rather weak. Maybe pilgrims had a boost to magic?

Anyway. New plan of escape.

Clearly, they had to undo the orders to transfer the ownership. How I knew? I spent hours with nothing to do, with just the ring, the only different thing abnormal, to distract me. Hours reading the flow of mana, and I was able to crack the code of it, and inspect its properties.

This also showed how weak the mage was. I wasn’t a mage for even a month, and I was still able to decipher it. He really needed to train… wait… what I’m saying? Well, forget it. I’m backtracking.

The merchant’s mage was kneeling besides us. He reached for the girl first and broke the enchants. She only stared to the ground. She was really used to be a slave to try to escape now.

The mage turned to me. He looked for something on his pockets.

SO! The instant he undo the orders I will escape! And then, I will have my revenge! MUAHAHAHAHA!

…

…

Except he drugged me again before exchanging.

Dammit! I forgot this guy removed my shards! He must know I’m a mage too!

And like this, I once again went to sleep against my will…

----------------------------------------

Author's note:

Aaaaaaaaaaannnnnnddddddd New Chapter!

A quick one, just for the transition between the two arcs. Not much happened, only the addition of some characters (name pending). And of course to give some satisfaction about why Gyp didn't make a bloodbath. And no, I don't plan to make this a super dark arc, with the MC losing faith in humans and turning into a demon lord. It would be too easy.

And now, I will seriously try to finish Luna's Side Story. It's a bit harder to make another perspective in another way, meaning, giving her a different thought flow. I'm still a newbie writer, so it's kinda hard. But it is a change of pace, and I think will make me a better writer.

Damm, long note, isn't it?

If you find any mistake, please comment! (including: grammatical, weird phrase structure and skill)

Thanks for the 69 (giggity) followers! But you are giving me contradictory feelings!

With nothing else to say, Thanks for Reading!